Friday, January 08, 2010

notes for an imaginary podcast

hadn't made my sweetie a mixtape in a long time, so this evening i compiled one in itunes for cd-r burnage. the barman thinks i should do a podcast, but i'm too tech-illiterate, even though i do have itunes. feh. anyway, here are some toons i dug listening to in 2009. i call this my "winter 2010 mix." if you want one, lemme know and i'll burn one for you.

mark growden - "faith in my pocket." my favorite song from saint judas, an early candidate for my album of the year.

neil young - "tell me why." my fave neil song, from live at massey hall. i love it when i find a new way to enjoy stuff i already love.

bob fante - "go go supertoy." the solo project of one of the most prolific and talented cats i know, eaton lake tonics' tony ferraro. forget the mixtape, you need to download from here. do it now!

velvet underground - "run run run." embarrassing to admit that two of the things i listened to the most last year were downloads of audience-recorded bootlegs from antiquity, but it's the truth: thisun (from the wild side of the street release of the vu's set at the legendary hilltop festival in rindge, new hampshire, 1969) and the move live at the fillmore west, same year.

seabrook power plant - "peter dennis blandford townshend." lead track from an album i reviewed for the fw weekly by a banjo-led avant-garde power trio. track's named after the who's mastermind, himself a former (recovered?) banjo player.

dennis gonzalez band of sorcerers featuring frank lowe - "hymn for john carter." the world at large is beginning to realize the magnitude of trumpeter dennis gonzalez's achievement. in 2009, he released four albums, all of them stunning in different ways: songs of early autumn with a quartet including joe morris on bass; the great bydgozscz concert, a document -- at long last -- of what yells at eels, the trio featuring dennis with his sons aaron (bass) and stefan (drums) is capable of in live performance; a matter of blood with pianist curtis clark and ex-coltrane bassist reggie workman; and scapegrace, a lovely, lyrical album of duets with portuguese pianist joao pablo. the one i can't stop listening to, though, is a board tape of a 1989 gig in d.c. with a patched-together band featuring the mighty tenor saxophonist lowe, who left the planet too early, in 2003. the tune's a dedication to the clarinetist and former fwisd teacher.

marty ehrlich rites quartet - "dogon a.d." from things have got to change. ehrlich's an estimable reedman going back to the '70s and disciple of fort worth expat julius hemphill (subject of another dedication on the gonzalez/lowe disc). "dogon a.d." was a hemphill signature piece.

jack rose - "kensington blues." the virginia-born, philadelphia-based virtuoso made significant contributions to the john fahey-founded school of "american primitive" guitar before dying of a heart attack december 5th, aged 38. this is the title track from his best and deepest album.

chris potter underground - "rumples." from ultrahang. as i pointed out in my review, potter's a saxophonist who's worked with steely dan, dave holland, and dave douglas. my favorite part of this track is pianist craig taborn's supremely funky left-hand bass.

snowbyrd - "is it on." great san antonio band, blending alt-country with desert psych. their drummer manny castillo died of cancer a year ago. the survivors continue.

stooges - "i got a right." from you want my action!, brit label easy action's document of the short-lived 1971 lineup that featured ron asheton (r.i.p.) playing guitar alongside james williamson, whose return to the fold was _the_ comeback story of 2009.

awkquarius - "let's hit the town." debut single by the latest vehicle for ex-ppt mainmen pikahsso and tahiti, recorded by dallas hip-hop eminence ty macklin, with 10 seconds of attempted ernie isley at the end by yours truly.

4 Comments:

Blogger Breaking Light said...

Yeah, I wants one. I second the podcast idea, you got a great dj voice besides. I hope to make the next HIO show.

3:25 AM  
Blogger stashdauber said...

that's kinda weird, kavin. i've heard my voice on tape and i thought it sounded like lou reed with a head cold. but i'll burn you a cd-r, sure.

3:35 AM  
Blogger andrew m. said...

please do the podcast. i spend three hours a day on the bus, and if i don't have something to jam in my ears to block out the noise, the sound of cell phone conversations and people hacking up phlegm become the catalysts for an internal meltdown of biblical proportions. i can think of few things better to block that noise than hearing you playing and talking about great, crazy bands i've never heard of before (most of which are from the fort worth/dallas metro area.)

go for it. you could do like a whole tom leykis schtick, 'cept geared toward vinyl devotees.

8:58 AM  
Blogger The Barman said...

OK, looks like the votes are in and you're doign the podcast. I'll pass on instructions.

6:00 PM  

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